By Tony Haynes
Through its first three football games of last year, NC State was averaging 447 yards of total offense and 40 points per game. This season, the Wolfpack has averages of 294 yards and 24 points through three games. Needless to say, the numbers from last year are decidedly more impressive with one major exception: last year's team was 1-2 at this stage while the current Wolfpack is 2-1. In addressing a lunch gathering at the weekly Hi-5 Coaches Corner on Tuesday, NC State quarterback's coach Curt Cignetti asked the question, "would you rather be 2-1 with fewer yards or 1-2 with more?" The answer is, of course, obvious.
Such is the state of Wolfpack football in 2004. With the strength of coach Chuck Amato's team now switching to defense, the offensive philosophy has become adaptable to game conditions. And there's no better example than what happened in the Pack's dramatic 17-16 win at Virginia Tech last Saturday. With his defense dominating the Hokies, Amato and his offensive coaches chose to rein in the offensive game plan and take a low-risk approach.
"You flip it around from last year," said NC State offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. "We had an ability to score and we had to. We were a high-risk offense last year. Now it wasn't as high-risk as most because of the guy we had throwing the football. Going into this year, knowing we were inexperienced at quarterback, we wanted to take some of that off of them because I think we've got some pretty good talent at running back. Last year we didn't have T.A. [McLendon] in the backfield. Now we've got him, so maybe he needs to fill that role that Philip [Rivers] had last year.
"I'm an offensive coordinator and I want to have a hundred points and have a thousand yards every game, but at the end I would rather have a win than a loss. You've got to recognize the personality of your football team, and maybe our personality lends itself to controlling the ball, feeding our backs and take some throws when they're starting to stack it in there. Let's play low-risk football."
An approach that's possible because the Wolfpack features a defense that has been absolutely dominant thus far. Holding its first three opponents below 200 yards of total offense, the Pack leads the nation in total defense and passing defense.
Still, with a schedule that ranks as one of the toughest in school history, NC State (2-1, 1-0) will have to improve offensively if it is going to fulfill its goal of challenging for the ACC title.
"I think we'll find our rhythm, said McLendon, who has averaged 93.5 yards in two games. "We've got two new quarterbacks and this is pretty much their first year playing. They've got to get into a rhythm themselves. It's hard to get use to the coverages and all that stuff. I'm pretty sure as the year goes on they're going to get better."
Quarterbacks Jay Davis and Marcus Stone have shared time on the field. Davis, a redshirt junior, started the Virginia Tech game and played most of the first half before giving way to Stone, who orchestrated a run-oriented, grind-it-out approach through most of the second half.
Ideally, Amato would prefer that one or the other emerge as a clear-cut No. 1 quarterback, but the chances of that happening right away appear to be remote.
"In a perfect world, if you had the one that would come to the forefront it would be good," Amato said. "There are an awful lot of teams in the country that are doing it with two quarterbacks. But in a perfect world, it would be nice for one of them to step up."
In the near future, game conditions will likely determine which player sees the most action. If NC State needs to throw more, Davis will probably get most of the minutes. Stone, who is big, athletic and fast, would be better suited to orchestrate an attack that relies on the run more.
"You have to do what you have to do to win a football game," said Amato. "Other people run the football and I never hear people say they have a conservative offense. They do it to win a football game. Right now we're going through growing pains at the quarterback position and we're going to do what we have to do to help them get their confidence. If it takes handing the ball to T.A. or any of the other running backs we have, we'll do that. I like throwing the ball as much as anybody because I think it's awfully easy to throw the football, but we've got to make sure we're doing the right thing to help us to win a football game."
This week, NC State will host a Wake Forest team that's been known to keep the ball on the ground as well. Just four games into the season, the Deacons have already had three different players run for 100 yards in a game.
In last year's 35-24 loss at Wake, the Wolfpack piled up 511 yards of total offense, but those numbers seemed meaningless given the outcome. And although it's highly unlikely NC State will even come close to matching that production this weekend, it may very well have a better chance to win because of its defense.
Even if it isn't always pretty, the Pack will do what it's got to do.
